Ask the Author: Tim Thornborough
Answered Questions (2)
Tim Thornborough
Really simple. Write. And don't stop.
I have lots of people asking me this question. Many of them want to write a book because they feel burdened by a subject, and want to let other people know about it. I tell them three things:
1. A book is a really big deal - it needs to be the culmination of a lot of other kinds of writing that feed into crafting something that is worthy of someone's time and money. Don't think you can go from nothing to something huge in a single bound.
2. There's a bit difference between a writer and an author. Anyone can be an author, sharing their opinions and thoughts about anything that they then make available to the wider world with an online publishing platform. But a writer is someone who is passionate enough about communicating that they want to learn how to woo and win their readers by working hard at the words. Too few authors are really writers that can make it compelling for us to read and enjoyable, so that we scarcely know we are reading. Developing that skill requires a lot of hard work and effort.
3. Most of the work in writing is in the editing. I often receive manuscripts for books that are, at best, a decent first draft of a book. More often than not, they do not even reach that level. I say that the rule of thumb is that for every hour you spend writing the original, you have to spend another 5 hours thinking, tinkering and transforming it into something that shines.
So my first advice is always "start a blog", and stick to writing for it twice a week. It gets you in the habit of writing, makes you work at editing something that is there for everyone to see, and will form the basis of a promotional platform if ever you do make it to be a writer and an author. In the vast majority of cases, people do not take my advice, and the reality of their aspiration to be a writer is revealed.
I have lots of people asking me this question. Many of them want to write a book because they feel burdened by a subject, and want to let other people know about it. I tell them three things:
1. A book is a really big deal - it needs to be the culmination of a lot of other kinds of writing that feed into crafting something that is worthy of someone's time and money. Don't think you can go from nothing to something huge in a single bound.
2. There's a bit difference between a writer and an author. Anyone can be an author, sharing their opinions and thoughts about anything that they then make available to the wider world with an online publishing platform. But a writer is someone who is passionate enough about communicating that they want to learn how to woo and win their readers by working hard at the words. Too few authors are really writers that can make it compelling for us to read and enjoyable, so that we scarcely know we are reading. Developing that skill requires a lot of hard work and effort.
3. Most of the work in writing is in the editing. I often receive manuscripts for books that are, at best, a decent first draft of a book. More often than not, they do not even reach that level. I say that the rule of thumb is that for every hour you spend writing the original, you have to spend another 5 hours thinking, tinkering and transforming it into something that shines.
So my first advice is always "start a blog", and stick to writing for it twice a week. It gets you in the habit of writing, makes you work at editing something that is there for everyone to see, and will form the basis of a promotional platform if ever you do make it to be a writer and an author. In the vast majority of cases, people do not take my advice, and the reality of their aspiration to be a writer is revealed.
Tim Thornborough
I'm currently working on half a dozen projects with external authors. A fascinating book by Sharon Dirckx on the relationship beteween our minds and consciousness, what some people might call the Soul, is particularly interesting. Sharon is a brain imaging scientist and works in Oxford. Also got books on Pornography, Hell, Same-Sex relationships and the Old Testament book of 2 Samuel. You can see I don't waste my days in sweating the light stuff!
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